[Analysis of the activities of the network of the Family Care Centres to relaunch their role: main results of the 2017 CCM Project]

Abstract

Introduction: in 2017, the Italian Ministry of Health funded the project "Analysis of the activities of the network of the Family Care Centers (FCCs) to relaunch their role" aimed at updating the state of the art of the national FCCs. The project was coordinated by the Italian National Institute of Health (INIH). The present paper focuses on a selection of the project's results.

Objectives: to describe some characteristics of the regional and Local Health Unit governance of the FCCs, and the care offered by the FCCs in different fields of activity.

Design: online census survey on three organizational levels of the FCCs: regional governance, coordination at the Local Health Unit level, and at the single FCC level. Data were collected through dedicated web forms via a national network of reference professionals.

Setting and participants: all the Italian Regions and Autonomous Provinces, 207 Local Health Unit coordinators, and 1,859 FCC's professionals were involved. Nineteen Regions (response rate: 100%), 183 coordinators (response rate: 88.4%), and 1,557 FCCs professionals (response rate: 83.7%) participated in the survey.

Results: the project found a lack of FCCs and of FCCs health professionals throughout the country compared to the national reference standards for these services, and a great interregional variability in the FCCs governance. Women's health according to a life-course approach is the centre of the FCCs activities, although assistance modalities differ by geographic area.

Conclusions: to relaunch the FCCs role, it is urgent to strengthen their network throughout the country, their multidisciplinary teams, and their integration with other social and health services.

Keywords: community health services; family care centres; maternity care.